Businesses falling for traps in digital transformation

You may think that digital transformation is moving fast, but it would move much, much faster if people weren’t so confused about it.

That is the general notion I got from Bizagi’s new report on the matter, entitled ‘The Agility Trap’.

After surveying more than 1,000 IT and customer experience professionals, the results are clear – digital transformation is essential to business success, and almost three quarters believe that failing here would mean failing commercially.

Live transformation is happening all around us, the report says, with USA and Canada spearheading the efforts, while Brazil and the UK hop behind. At the backend are the Nordics and Benelux.

Key drivers of digital transformation were established as operational agility, changing customer expectations, and customer experience.

“Customer expectation is changing the way businesses think and creating the momentum behind digital transformation,” comments Gustavo Gomez, CEO of Bizagi. “The majority of businesses are struggling to avoid the pitfalls that accompany digital transformation, and the secret to overcoming these challenges is to understand the drivers of change and create the IT agility to respond quickly.

“Businesses can then balance ideas, collaboration and technology to overcome the obstacles they currently face and create an army of ‘can-do’ pioneers to make change happen, which will help them reap the rewards of digital transformation.”

The main obstacles are what Bizagi calls ‘The Agility Trap’ – and are related to company culture, organisational complexity and the lack of innovation-enabling processes.

Most common traps businesses fall into include failing to plan, underestimating resistance to change, and neglecting system agility.

Gomez added: “It’s clear that many businesses are being restricted by severe challenges when it comes to digital transformation. These can only be overcome through technology that helps them avoid legacy system complexity, cultivates a culture of rapid experimentation and enables operational agility. Only then can businesses avoid or escape the agility trap and deliver on their digital transformation goals.”